The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers! Click Here to Order
DEVELOPING YOUR ATHLETE’S TOP 7 PATTERNS
Over a decade ago I conducted an on-court developmental case study with a group of similar age and ability level, top-ranked Southern California players. For eight weeks, I trained a group of six athletes with the familiar old school, common academy methods. You’ve seen it a million times. It’s basically playing catch, back and forth, grooving to each other all day. I called them the Red Group.
The other group, called the Blue Group, was trained very different. We customized each athlete’s Top 7 Patterns of play and religiously ran those patterns every single training session. These players focused on offense, neutral and defensive situational protocols and were not allowed to rally back and forth to the opponent. They played keep away for two months…never catch.
“Winning matches is a game of keep away… not a game of catch.”
After the two month period, the Blue Group beat the Red Group handily for five consecutive team matches. I then decided to permanently switch my training philosophy. My students started racking up national title after national title.
It’s time to work with your athlete’s coach in designing your child’s very own Top 7 Patterns. Reactive tennis is played at the intermediate levels of the game. It is simply reacting to the moment without any real plan. Proactive tennis is having a pre-set plan for every point. Proactive tennis forces the opponent to react to your strengths. These strengths come in the form of strokes and patterns. Most points in junior tennis are almost over when the server walks up to the line to serve, meaning …points are typically short. That’s why this section focuses on starting each point with a specific plan.
“It is estimated that the average point played on the WTA/ATP professional tour is under 4 hits. This is why starting points with a plan is essential.”
